They arrived at the beach at around 9:30 AM. It was a beautiful sunny day, with just a few white clouds decorating the sky here and there. They parked in the designated parking, and immediately set out to unload their things from the car and van, while Minna unsecured Mio so that she could get out of the vehicle. Once that done, she pulled out the ramp, allowing Mio to leave the van. By then, the rest of the 501st had managed to get all their things ready, she took a good look around, but her eyes seemed to land on Mio, as she noticed something peculiar. Mio wasn't wearing her usual bathing suit. She was dressed in black swimming shorts that reached her knees (they were also slightly big for her legs, but that was just due to the muscle atrophy) and a sleeveless black and white hoodie. Mio noticed Minna's gaze on her and decided to answer her question.

"It was easier to come in shorts," she said, startling Minna in the process. Now, Mio was by no means lazy. She put a lot of effort into keeping fit and healthy, but she had learned that fighting for everything to return to normal wasted more time and effort, especially in something as trivial as a swimsuit. She didn't need every aspect of her life to be as it was once before, so she decided that she would just make some things easier for herself. It was also a wiser decision when keeping in mind that, had she worn her old one piece swimsuit, she would have to remove it completely if she wanted to go to the bathroom.

Minna accepted the answer, and with that, the rest of the 501st went to go to the beach. The beach they had chosen was probably the best suited for Mio. It had nearby bathrooms, and they could borrow a wheelchair with much wider tires so that she wouldn't get stuck in the sand. Once that exchange was done, they entered the beach and started hunting for a good area to claim. It wasn't crowded, thankfully for them, and within minutes they found a nice spot that wasn't that far away from bathrooms and still near the water.

Perrine and Minna set up the large blankets, and Miyafuji and Shirley set up some chairs. After that, the 501st had changed into their swimsuits. They were all wearing their swimsuits under their clothes, so it was as simple as stripping. Mio removed her hoodie, revealing a swimsuit top, and very well toned upper body muscles (which didn't go unnoticed by Minna and Perrine). Once that was done, most of the 501st went and jumped into the ocean for a swim, while Minna, Mio, Eila, and Sanya stayed behind on the blankets. The beach wheelchair they borrowed was longer from front to back, with a large third wheel in front of the footrest. Mio was still able to wheel herself, and they learned it could even be taken into the water. However, transferring from it to the floor was more difficult, so Minna helped her by supporting her weight. Once on the floor, they watched their former subordinates and their antics. Trude was pushed into the water by Erica, and Francesca had gotten her hands on water guns and was now wreaking havoc on her comrades.

Ella and Sanya were whispering something between themselves, which gave Minna and Mio an opportunity to speak with each other. They spoke about the accident and Mio's recovery, and she learned more about the difficulties, as well as what Minna had been doing since retiring. Other than her job at the academy, she had picked up a hobby of sewing and embroidery.

After an hour, the girls came back to the blankets soaking wet, but with huge smiles on their faces. Miyafuji handed out sandwiches and juice from the cooler and they all hung out, happily chatting away. Suddenly, a thought came to her mind.

"Mio, how should we get you to the water?" she asked. Mio seemed to ponder this.

"Well, the man at the stall said that we could take the wheelchair into the water, so I could do that and then have someone pull me out of the wheelchair so that they can pull it back to the sand," Mio suggested. Minna thought that was the best solution, so they decided to go with that.

"How long can you stay in the water?" Minna inquired. Mio would be treading water with just her hands, so she would probably become exhausted quickly from keeping her whole body afloat with two limbs instead for four. However, Mio caught the meaning behind Minna's question and smiled.

"Don't worry about that. I've practiced treading water over long periods of time for endurance, so I'll be fine," She answered.


After sitting for half an hour, the 501st decided to head back into the water. Minna helped Mio transfer back into the wheelchair, and the latter wheeled herself into the water. Once the wheelchair was nearly submerged, with only Mio's chest and above sticking out of the water, Gertrude and Shirley helped pull her into the water and away from the shore so that her feet wouldn't drag across the floor. The let her go, although ready to hold her in case she started sinking. They were surprised by how well she stayed above the water considering she couldn't use her legs. Their surprise didn't go unnoticed by the ex-Major.

"Do you think I'd be stupid enough to go into the water with no way of keeping myself from sinking?" She asked. They tried sputtering a few excuses before retreating. Mio smiled.

The water was a comfortable temperature, and it was a nice change. It felt like she hadn't been to the beach in forever, and watching her comrades brought a rush of nostalgia.

Until she was sprayed in the face. She sputtered and look around for the perpetrator, and her eyes landed on Minna, who was flaunting a bright yellow water gun. The redhead was laughing, with the other members staring at her in shock. Mio decided to have some fun. She grabbed one of the two water guns in Francesca's hands (she had gone back and gotten more for the other members). Mio took a quick aim and fired, squirting water into her former commader's face.

This started a huge water fight between the members of the 501st. Gertrude joined after being squirted in the face by Shirley and Erica, and Eila was on a rampage after someone had hit Sanya. Minna and Mio became archenemies for the moment, trying to shoot each other repeatedly. However, Minna ran out of water first, and was desperately trying to refill while Mio took the chance to squirt her more.

By the time they decided to stop, they were all laughing.

Needless to say, they had a great time.


Soon it was evening and the sun was setting. After the water fight, Mio had been taken back to land, although she returned to the water two more times. Now the 501st were sitting and enjoying ice-cream, watching the view. Everyone had changed into new clothes, as they knew they would be leaving soon. Mio put in a jacket and some sweatpants.

Once they had finished, Francesca, Erica, and Shirley went to return the water guns they rented from the store, and Minna went with Mio to retrieve her proper wheelchair and return the beach one. They all returned to the car and the van, and set off. They dropped Mio at her house. Mio was unsecured from the strappings and went down the ramp, wheeling herself to the door and unlocking it. Once she was in, she spotted Junko on the couch.

"Mio! How was your day?" She asked. She was dressed, as she had promised to drive the rest of the 501st home in their van so that no one would be forced to use a taxi.

"It was great, I'm really glad I got to go to the beach after such a long time," she said. Junko smiled. Mio needed change, and she was grateful that she finally got to do something so different. She was going to thank Minna for this when she got the chance.

"I'm going to drop them off now, don't do anything stupid," she said, with a teasing voice. Mio laughed, knowing that Junko was talking about her recklessness.

"I won't," she said.


When Junko came back, the house was quiet, and she couldn't find Mio. Only slightly worried, she checked Mio's room. She spotted Mio on her bed, fast asleep. Junko smiled, happy for her friend.

"Goodnight Mio."